Alan Joyce, the current Qantas chief, is leading the internal defence work flanked by new Qantas International CEO Simon Hickey, chief financial officer Gareth Evans, legal counsel Brett Johnson and head of government and corporate affairs Olivia Wirth.

Macquarie is, of course, linked to Qantas through its most senior bankers, with those steering the long-standing advisory relationship including chief executive Nicholas Moore (who led the investment banking division before taking the reins from Allan Moss), Robin Bishop (local head of Macquarie Capital) and Geoff Joyce (who has played a central role in several transactions). Tim Bishop (head of Macquarie Capital) has also worked for the airline, including on the failed private equity takeover.

Macquarie also has a thorough knowledge of and close ties to Qantas through its aviation-leasing unit which counts Qantas and other large airlines such as British Airways among its customers. And then there is Macquarie’s corporate air travel account, which was at one stage likely the largest private sector contract in the local market.

One former bank insider said Moore had an intimate relationship with Qantas, including board members and former boss Geoff Dixon, while former Qantas finance chief Peter Gregg had close ties with the company’s aviation-leasing business.

Most large carriers hold a mix of leased and owned aircraft to maintain fleet flexibility and manage their cash flows. Macquarie has been keen to take advantage of the increased trend toward leasing of aircraft, particularly in the past six years.

The most high profile Macquarie-Qantas interlude occurred in 2007. Moore is thought to have delegated the primary responsibility to Tim Bishop and Geoff Joyce, when after years of stalking, Macquarie led a consortium in a $11.1 billion takeover of Qantas that was ultimately rejected by shareholders.

Former Macquarie banker Peter Yates was also involved in the failed buyout when he was head of Allco Equity Partners.

Geoff Joyce is well known to the corporate community after being heavily involved in Macquarie’s joint defence mandate for Rio Tinto four years ago, and prior to that a close relationship with Brambles. But despite a strong bench Macquarie has had a slow start to the year, ranking seventh in Australian advisory work.

And in a slow advisory and equity capital markets environment mandates are even more fiercely contested.

In the past, Qantas has also turned to Macquarie in its capital raising efforts. Macquarie was on the Qantas ticket in early 2009, when the company jointly managed a follow-on equity raising for Qantas, helped by UBS.

But the Macquarie relationship goes back as far as 2002, and even further, even though Macquarie wasn’t involved in Qantas’s sharemarket float 17 years ago.

A decade ago, Macquarie was by Qantas’s side when the airline and Air New Zealand sought to create a powerful trans-Tasman alliance. The proposed purchase of about 22.5 per cent of Air New Zealand never got off the ground.